Story By: Sarah Turner

Every spring weekend in Montevallo brings a familiar soundtrack, music echoing across Kermit A. Johnson Field, paired with the steady pop of metal bats.

For Falcon baseball redshirt juniors McGwire Turner and Christian Kallaher, those sounds define their role on the field. Both have stepped into starting positions this season. But away from the diamond, they’ve taken on a different role: sharing stories rooted in faith.

The pair launched “The Victory Podcast” in October, a platform focused on conversations about their personal journeys and their walk with Christ.

“It’s funny, it was one of those things where it was kind of spontaneous,” said Turner. “[Kallaher] just came up to me one day in the weight room and was like ‘Hey, I think we should start a podcast’, and I was totally down.”

The start wasn’t seamless. Their first attempt, filmed in the locker room, ran into immediate issues.

“It went bad and half of it didn’t get filmed,” Kallaher said. “We were filming on an iPad, and I ran out of storage on my iPad.”

From there, the learning curve was quick. Kallaher now handles much of the production, by planning questions, editing, and posting, while both hosts emphasize a conversational approach during the filming process.

“We really just like going on the fly, because I feel like that’s where the better conversations come from,” Kallaher said. “Like we have a flow of how we want to go, but then when we’re in there we’re just talking like it’s normal.”

That authenticity carries into the final product. Kallaher intentionally keeps editing minimal to preserve the rawness of each episode.

“I think there’s something about leaving it clean and not just keeping all the parts that sound good.”

The podcast initially featured baseball teammates, but one standout episode included men’s basketball players Derek Moore and Reese Gurner. Despite the challenge of hosting multiple guests for the first time, the conversation stood out.

“That was one of my favorite podcasts that we filmed to this day,” Kallaher said. “It was super fun getting another perspective from a different team.”

At its core, the podcast is about more than baseball. Turner and Kallaher wanted to show a different side of themselves, one grounded in faith, something that they emphasized can sometimes be a hard thing to do in sports. That openness has resonated across the program.

“I remember one time at practice our coach stopped us and he was talking about character and he talked about our podcast,” said Turner. “It was really cool to see that gratification of ‘Alright, Coach sees our podcast and he sees what we’re about.”

The response has extended beyond coaches. Teammates and parents have also engaged with the podcast, sparking deeper conversations.

“Another thing that I noticed was a lot of teammates coming up to me and asking me deep questions and being curious about their own faith,” Kallaher said. “I feel like that was another big part of why I started this.”

“Me being bold helped other people be bold, and kind of know that there’s somebody that they can talk to, and if we didn’t start that they probably wouldn’t have come up to me or [Turner] or try to have conversations with us about it,” Kallaher explained.

That impact goes both ways. The podcast has also reshaped how both athletes approach the game going into a new season.

“I feel like it has taken a lot of weight off my shoulders,” Turner said. “Just knowing where I’m at with Christ and my walk with him and learning lessons throughout the season.”

Kallaher echoed that perspective.

“Anytime I fail in a game, I think of multiple times in the podcast that I’ve talked about how baseball was not my identity and my identity is in Christ,” Kallaher said. “So I try to stay true to that.” 

As the season continues, Turner and Kallaher will remain key contributors on the diamond. But off it, their message is just as consistent, one conversation at a time.